It's been a while, huh?
I've been spending less free time crafting, lately, putting more focus on working in the yard. Now that the weather is heating up, though, I suspect I'll be more and more tempted to stay indoors again. (Yay? (g))
While there's been less crafting, that doesn't mean I don't have anything to share!
First up, a floral doily.
I found the pattern while looking through some vintage pattern booklets I've been given over the years from my mother and youngest sister. (I think they found most-- if not all-- of them at a used "book store" run by one of the local libraries.)
The booklet in question, Star Book No. 64: Flower Doilies, was published in 1949, which I find very neat. Just a few years after WWII... A different world!
...Anyway, one of the patterns looked very familiar. "Rose Hot Plate Mat Cover, No. 6401" bears a striking resemblance to one I've crocheted before-- the gorgeous doily another blogger reverse engineered. (Here's my old blog post about it.)
There are differences. I think Janice's doily has more rounds of treble crochet than the one in Flower Doilies, for one thing-- and more rounds, period-- so I'm sure this other pattern comes out smaller. The exterior band of "shell mesh" is larger in Janice's version, and her version has a final border round that the other lacks.
Actually, I made a few changes to the Flower Doilies pattern, myself. In the second section of "shell mesh", I increased the chain lengths in each round by one. (I wanted to give myself extra room for blocking it out flat.) I also didn't always switch colors at exactly the place indicated-- maybe one round earlier. Since the pattern is intended to be a cover for a hot plate mat, I left off some of it-- just stopped at what felt like the logical point.
All things told, I think I prefer Janice's version, but I'm not disappointed with how this second doily turned out, either.
I gave this one (along with the very bright yellow "plumbing doily" from last entry) to Mom as part of her Mother's Day gift.
I'm working on another doily, too, but there are no photos of that one, yet. (I can't remember where I first saw the pattern... On someone's blog? While browsing Ravelry?) It's "Vintage Roses" by Jo Ann Maxwell. I'll have to wait until I finish it to tell you whether or not I think it's worth the making of twelve roses. (Ack! All those ends to weave!)
The final crochet project since last time was an amigurumi fox ("Adorable Mister Fox", a free pattern by Sharon Ojala).
Every year, I tell myself that that's it for the amigurumi. Then the next gift-giving occasion for a child in my family rolls around, and I think, "Well, maybe I could make a little something to go along with the rest of the gift..." And I end up grumbling about the difficulties of sewing together all those little pieces and trying to get the face just right-- again.
Maybe this time really will be the last (for a good, long time, at least).
I think my fox turned out pretty well, though (if I do say so myself). Maybe the button eyes look a little creepy... I didn't have safety eyes, and I didn't want to mess around with yarn eyes (as I usually do). Since the recipient (my niece Clarabel) is now old enough to be trusted with such things ;o) I thought I'd give button eyes a try. (Please excuse any blurriness in the photos; I was in a hurry to get it wrapped.)
In between crochet projects, most of my crafting energy was directed toward quilt-piecing.
...And now I remember that I intended to name that quilt.
Last time I wrote about this, I was thinking maybe something to do with some type of grain or grass, because that's what the alternating shapes of neutral and color remind me of-- but nothing great is coming to mind.
I'm not sure what (if anything) the basic block is called. The name that came to mind, "broken chevron", does yield at least one very similar result. Then there's someone calling it "herringbone".
Maybe I'll just call it... my Scrap-Happy Herringbone quilt. I think it has a scrappy look-- by far my favorite style of quilt.
I have no quilt photos to share tonight, but all there is to do is to pin together and sew one more long seam-- and then the quilt top will be done (I think)! Then there's the issue of the back... and the binding... and whether I'll tie it or try to machine quilt it on my standard sewing machine. No rush, but it will be nice to at least have the top done. (Then I can go back and start joining the blocks for the string quilt I was working on as my first "real quilt".)
I've been spending less free time crafting, lately, putting more focus on working in the yard. Now that the weather is heating up, though, I suspect I'll be more and more tempted to stay indoors again. (Yay? (g))
While there's been less crafting, that doesn't mean I don't have anything to share!
- - - - - - -
First up, a floral doily.
I found the pattern while looking through some vintage pattern booklets I've been given over the years from my mother and youngest sister. (I think they found most-- if not all-- of them at a used "book store" run by one of the local libraries.)
The booklet in question, Star Book No. 64: Flower Doilies, was published in 1949, which I find very neat. Just a few years after WWII... A different world!
...Anyway, one of the patterns looked very familiar. "Rose Hot Plate Mat Cover, No. 6401" bears a striking resemblance to one I've crocheted before-- the gorgeous doily another blogger reverse engineered. (Here's my old blog post about it.)
There are differences. I think Janice's doily has more rounds of treble crochet than the one in Flower Doilies, for one thing-- and more rounds, period-- so I'm sure this other pattern comes out smaller. The exterior band of "shell mesh" is larger in Janice's version, and her version has a final border round that the other lacks.
Actually, I made a few changes to the Flower Doilies pattern, myself. In the second section of "shell mesh", I increased the chain lengths in each round by one. (I wanted to give myself extra room for blocking it out flat.) I also didn't always switch colors at exactly the place indicated-- maybe one round earlier. Since the pattern is intended to be a cover for a hot plate mat, I left off some of it-- just stopped at what felt like the logical point.
All things told, I think I prefer Janice's version, but I'm not disappointed with how this second doily turned out, either.
I gave this one (along with the very bright yellow "plumbing doily" from last entry) to Mom as part of her Mother's Day gift.
- - - - - - -
I'm working on another doily, too, but there are no photos of that one, yet. (I can't remember where I first saw the pattern... On someone's blog? While browsing Ravelry?) It's "Vintage Roses" by Jo Ann Maxwell. I'll have to wait until I finish it to tell you whether or not I think it's worth the making of twelve roses. (Ack! All those ends to weave!)
- - - - - - -
The final crochet project since last time was an amigurumi fox ("Adorable Mister Fox", a free pattern by Sharon Ojala).
Every year, I tell myself that that's it for the amigurumi. Then the next gift-giving occasion for a child in my family rolls around, and I think, "Well, maybe I could make a little something to go along with the rest of the gift..." And I end up grumbling about the difficulties of sewing together all those little pieces and trying to get the face just right-- again.
Maybe this time really will be the last (for a good, long time, at least).
I think my fox turned out pretty well, though (if I do say so myself). Maybe the button eyes look a little creepy... I didn't have safety eyes, and I didn't want to mess around with yarn eyes (as I usually do). Since the recipient (my niece Clarabel) is now old enough to be trusted with such things ;o) I thought I'd give button eyes a try. (Please excuse any blurriness in the photos; I was in a hurry to get it wrapped.)
- - - - - - -
In between crochet projects, most of my crafting energy was directed toward quilt-piecing.
...And now I remember that I intended to name that quilt.
Last time I wrote about this, I was thinking maybe something to do with some type of grain or grass, because that's what the alternating shapes of neutral and color remind me of-- but nothing great is coming to mind.
I'm not sure what (if anything) the basic block is called. The name that came to mind, "broken chevron", does yield at least one very similar result. Then there's someone calling it "herringbone".
Maybe I'll just call it... my Scrap-Happy Herringbone quilt. I think it has a scrappy look-- by far my favorite style of quilt.
I have no quilt photos to share tonight, but all there is to do is to pin together and sew one more long seam-- and then the quilt top will be done (I think)! Then there's the issue of the back... and the binding... and whether I'll tie it or try to machine quilt it on my standard sewing machine. No rush, but it will be nice to at least have the top done. (Then I can go back and start joining the blocks for the string quilt I was working on as my first "real quilt".)